33 Machine electric 818e build- Sold! Headed to China!

[garyr78]

Regarding your battery boxes, did you build them before or after you received your batteries? Just curious if one can use the battery dimensions as gospel when designing the battery boxes or if one actually needs the batteries to do an accurate job.

Thanks,
Gary

[ehansen007]

Finally back in action after a surgery so I worked on the body all day Sunday. Brando came by and gave me a hand and brought his R with him! It's great to have a reference for the body work and fitment. Funny how my car is so much different since it's one of the first ones. We got the back deck done and I can't believe that after shortening the shifter arm, and grinding off part of the bracket the shifter still hits the back of the car. Something very wrong with that design but it appears they may have fixed it on Brando's car since our rear ends are the same design. The front was a lot of work with the headlights being aftermarket. Lots of cutting and dremeling there. Coming along though. Not to excited to get to the doors at it looks like they are kind of short in the door openings. We'll see. Everything is where the manual says it needs to be though so hopefully it will work out

[David Hodgkins]

Erik,

An exciting part of the build is starting! Brandon is a great guy and I'm sure you two builders hit it right off. Good luck with the next steps and if you need someone to help I'll be sure to help you find somebody!!

[longislandwrx]

Great progress... doors are overrated.

[ehansen007]

Haha. Yes, and typically the hardest part of a build. These are already rolled so you can't really trim the front or back so I'm optimistic.

For you guys out there, I installed one of my favorite mods today thanks to Evan Siefke who is one of my 33 customers. He showed me these little guys in action at the HB show. At $25 a piece the are so worth it if you've ever used hood pins and looked around for an hour in your garage or someone else's garage for your cotter pins (Brando). Cleaner, easier, and quicker, I encourage this as invesment to all 818 builders. They are the Quik Latch Mini and can be found here:

http://www.jegs.com/p/Quik-Latch/Qui...47433/10002/-1

[Brando]

if you've ever used hood pins and looked around for an hour in your garage or someone else's garage for your cotter pins (Brando)

an hour? I found them in 45 minutes flat

Those Quik Latch Mini's look so clean. Its too late for me now, I am stuck loosing my pins on a regular basis. I know who to ask for replacements though!

[longislandwrx]

HAH, I always had a carabineer on my keychain and immediately snapped them in whenever I took them off my Vega, it also prevented me from driving off with them uninstalled because they were hard to miss when it was time to start the car.

These look great.

[Triathletedave]

Haha. Yes, and typically the hardest part of a build. These are already rolled so you can't really trim the front or back so I'm optimistic.

For you guys out there, I installed one of my favorite mods today thanks to Evan Siefke who is one of my 33 customers. He showed me these little guys in action at the HB show. At $25 a piece the are so worth it if you've ever used hood pins and looked around for an hour in your garage or someone else's garage for your cotter pins (Brando). Cleaner, easier, and quicker, I encourage this as invesment to all 818 builders. They are the Quik Latch Mini and can be found here:

http://www.jegs.com/p/Quik-Latch/Qui...47433/10002/-1

I have not gotten to the body stage yet, so could you tell me how many of these mini latches are needed for the entire build?

[ehansen007]

I'm thinking 10 if you go by the manual although I'm going to try to hinge the front so I only need two there. So 8 for me. Here's the rear. I welded one nut into a spacer and welded that to the frame. Still need to paint.

[esff32]

Nice job Erik, they look great. It was cool seeing your car in person at the show, very impressive.

[Triathletedave]

Your solution certainly looks good! I'll be hitting up the supplier for 10 units I think! Thanks!

[ehansen007]

I think my only problem will be guys that say "Hey, what's this button do?"


Seriously though, now that I've got that cover down and secure the gap at the trunk at the rear is RIDICULOUS. I know most have had to fix this but man, I can't believe it's that huge. Must be 3/8-1/2" and that's with a 1/8 gap on the front edge! Question is, do I pull the top of the backend inward or fill it or cover it somehow with the spoiler?

[ehansen007]

Okay so I was just on with Treves and we brought up the idea of mounting the spoiler to the trunk and having the latch on the back side. Turns out this might work better for me as I'm not looking for as much spoiled air/downforce. It covers the gap and looks pretty good. I just flipped it over and it fits! Anyone else try this?

[RM1SepEx]

[QUOTE=ehansen007;154568]


Seriously though, now that I've got that cover down and secure the gap at the trunk at the rear is RIDICULOUS. I know most have had to fix this but man, I can't believe it's that huge. Must be 3/8-1/2" and that's with a 1/8 gap on the front edge! Question is, do I pull the top of the backend inward or fill it or cover it somehow with the spoiler?



I had to slide the sides relative to each other as Wayne described. Then by making the trunk bow up (as Aloha818S did) I'm able to get consistent gaps. I noticed that one of your fenders isn't quite finished at the far rear end... how do you plan on repairing it? Since I want to attempt no paint I need to do a cobo epoxy fill with gel coat over it. You can't just build up gelcoat. Are you going to go with essentially no gaps on the fender to engine cover as shown?

[WIS89]

Erik

[Brando]

WIS89. Don't post any more. Your at 818

[C.Plavan]

Looking good- FYI- they do make elongated Mini Latch studs. They make them 4" long. For other builds, you may not need a spacer if you can find and buy them.

4_inch_pin.jpg

[ehansen007]

I worked on it a little more and widened the fenders a bit and got the gap a little smaller. As for the longer studs, yes that would be good however you still have that larger diameter hole in the bracket to deal with. This is more solid and welding is more funner!!

[C.Plavan]

Welding is always more Funner! Haha

[ehansen007]

Lots of work on the body this holiday weekend. For the headlights and nose I managed to get everything lined up but the spyder lights took a lot more work. I used the "D" gasket to fill the lower gap and I like it. I took down most of the mold slag on the edges and at some points I was down to the fiberglass whic sucks but I'll patch it. I put the rear tunk hatch on as well which was sooouch easier than the. 33!! Still a huge gap at the back though. Still working on that. Looking pretty good and I'll be putting the quik latches on the trunk and then starting the doors.

[ehansen007]

And she's on the road! Or at least the street. I was a bit surprised at how much the ride height changed when I see her down. Hardly any weight in the back from the body but the front had the charger, lights, windshield frame etc and the shocks are pretty soft so I had to adjust the coil overs just to get it level

[speedpacer]

Hey Eric, I stumbled into these forums after googling for a platform for an electric car. I'm relieved to see that I won't be the guinea pig!

I understand you did something similar with a hot rod? Do you think it would be a practical daily driver?

[David Hodgkins]

Donnie, I may have inadvertently misled you. Eric built a very nice, "traditional" '33. His 818 is his 1st electric and is very cutting edge. The '33s I posted in your other thread were built by others...

[68GT500MAN]

Speedpacer, there has been at least one electric 33. It was in the FFR both at SEMA back in 2009. Was painted grey and looked awesome.
Doug

[Brando]

And she's on the road!

That's great bro! Looking good, Congrats.
So what's next? Splash guards? SB100? Vents? Door skins?

[speedpacer]

Okay David, I see. I thought the pictures you posted in the other thread were of his 33!

I googled it and it looks like AMP=D was involved with that project, but everything from them is dead since 2010 and I can't find out anything else about the car, except that they spent in the neighborhood of 250k to get the performance they wanted, which is slightly out of my price range. I probably wouldn't be worried about gas prices if I could spend 250k on a car.

I'll keep researching... thanks again!

[ehansen007]

Wow, it's been a crazy few weeks. I took my dad to Scotland last week and got back Friday. Played some amazing golf courses. Now I'm back trying to finish up the doors so I can get the hood and windshield in. I've got to have it ready by July 20 for the Refuel races at laguna seca. Can't wait.

[ehansen007]

Getting even closer! I still have not decided what to do on the hood. I want to block off that air intake for the radiator but I also want the hinge it there so it goes up and forward. Any ideas? I think a double hinge would work but I'll have to glass it in.


Getting the cockpit ready for interior


I decided to paint in inner glass with truck bed liner. Should deaden it a bit too.


Got the door liners installed and decided to add a bit of Spyker jewelry to the door panels. If I don't like it I'll cover it with CF.

[ehansen007]

Did a full work weekend on the car to get the under-armor (aluminum) on the car. That is a task. A HUGE thanks to John Tongish for being there both days. Glen Zwicker came by as well. Quality guys both and love working on cars. I coated them with Evercoat undercoat like a lot of other parts. I also decided to see how the Dip would work on the humpty humps. It looks okay and a bit weird since it's so flat and textured and it feels cool. It does however love to attract dust!




Look Ma! No radiator!













I dropped off the windshield and frame at Jeff Miller's on Friday so I'm excited to see how it comes out.

I'm also doing the hinge setup like a few of you have done for the front hood. We'll see how it comes out!

[Brando]

Laguna Seca ReFuel TT- this weekend!
Are you ready?

[Aero STI]

I'm thinking 10 if you go by the manual although I'm going to try to hinge the front so I only need two there. So 8 for me. Here's the rear. I welded one nut into a spacer and welded that to the frame. Still need to paint.

Erik, any more info on this spacer material you used? OD? ID? I'm thinking I may take some 1/2" solid rod and just drill and tap for 1/4-20 to match the Quik Latch fastener.

[ehansen007]

That would work too. That steel can be tough but if you have the means it makes things easier. I can't remember the OD and ID. It's what I had in the garage and I'm pretty sure the ones I did in the back are different than the ones I did in the front!

[ehansen007]

Laguna Seca ReFuel TT- this weekend!
Are you ready?

Oh yeah! Got the entire car together and the hood latches working and drove it around last night! Need to watch out for driveways with that diffuser on! I'll be taking it off to get it on the trailer for the trip up there for sure.

[ehansen007]

My take on the hood hinge setup. All done in Aluminum (so much easier to work with for me). Please don't laugh at my glass work. It's my first time.

[waruaki]

On my build I have some gaps between the buckets and the headlights. Some you can't notice and other's not so nice. What type of trim did you add on the edge of the fiberglass to the close the gaps?
FCD65FFE-2F7A-47D7-A00D-6E52CEF04B97_zpsgfoi0fvf.jpg

Brett

[RM1SepEx]

nice hinges, they look just like mine!

[Bob_n_Cincy]

Hi Erik,
Everything looks great.
Will they have recharge facilities on sight?
Good luck.
Bob

[wleehendrick]

I'll be taking it off to get it on the trailer for the trip up there for sure.

Hey Erik, can't EVWest come up with an adapter to let you use the Telsa SuperCharger stations along I-5? Then you could drive it to Laguna Seca!

[metalmaker12]

Looking good!

[erlihemi]

Erik,
Absolutely awesome!! Little scary coming over to 818 land from 33 ville... kinda like discovering cold fusion Someday we'll get a real grid built for ya. in the meantime keep the golden pull rope handy and remember that wheel spin should result in a decrease in amps...